


Fathers' Intuition

by Indigo2831



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: 118 firefam, Buck and Eddie's Co-Dependent Bromance, Domestic Fluff, Evan Buckley's Heart of Gold, Family Fluff, Found Family, Gen, Service Dogs, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, tsunami aftermath
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-09
Updated: 2019-11-09
Packaged: 2021-01-25 21:15:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21362785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Indigo2831/pseuds/Indigo2831
Summary: Eddie knows something is off the second he enters the house. He just didn’t expect it to be so…wonderful.  Post 3x03′s "The Searchers."  There are shades of Buck/Eddie if you squint.
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley & Christopher Diaz, Evan "Buck" Buckley & Eddie Diaz
Comments: 13
Kudos: 243





	Fathers' Intuition

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by a service dog video I saw on Instagram. Someone on Tumblr also wondered why all Buck/Eddie fics were so angsty and dark, so I wanted to add a little light. I wrote this in one night, so pardon any typos. I haven't been this prolific or inspired for a long time, so I'm going for it. Follow me on Tumblr: Indigo2831

Maybe it was the vibration of the air, or something akin to PTSD from one of the last times he left his son with Buck and they both nearly died, or the fact that Buck hadn’t sent Eddie updates on his day with Christopher, but some external force had Eddie anxiously bracing as he entered his own home. 

He was uncertain of what he’d find, but he definitely hadn’t expected a spotless home or bags from his favorite Mexican restaurant on the table. At the sound of Eddie dropping his keys in the lopsided porcelain bowl Christopher made him for Father’s Day, Buck darted out from the kitchen, hands behind his back, something akin to apprehension tinting his expression. For as charming as he could be, Buck had absolutely no poker face.

“How it go today?” Eddie hedged. 

Before Buck could answer, a peel of laughter echoed from Christopher’s room. Buck smiled but shifted to block the hallway and Eddie’s attempts to investigate. “Don’t be mad,” he began.

“What did you do?” Eddie groaned.

“I take full responsibility, Eddie, I promise.” 

“Did you shave his head like he’s been begging you to?” Eddie asked, trying to slip by Buck.

Buck matched his every move by skating over the wooden floor, and fully exploiting Eddie’s recent stint of insomniatic floor-polishing, and his soft cotton socks. “Of course not. I just…Eddie, he has that face and those eyes, and I just couldn’t say no.” 

They grappled in the hallway, outright wrestling like teenagers, but Buck was not only bigger, he had the advantage of not working a twenty-four-hour shift. Short of using actual combat moves, Eddie wasn’t getting by Buck this way.

“Say no to what?” He panted as he tapped out his submission.

“Nothing,” Buck lied at the same second a bark bellowed from Christopher’s room.

Christopher laughed. Buck turned red. Eddie swore. **  
**

“Please tell me you didn’t do what I think you did,” Eddie pointed an irate finger in Buck’s face. 

Buck stammered, mouth opening and closing. A rectangular of blue and gold hovering over Buck’s shoulder caught Eddie’s eye. A 50-pound bag of fancy dog food was propped against the doorway. There were two metal bowls and a plastic sacks from PetSmart on the kitchen island. Not only did Buck get his son a dog without asking, he apparently got him a prissy one that required pricy food.

Eddie dropped his head in his hands. Their lives were already poorly controlled chaos, and in the aftermath of Shannon’s death and the tsunami, Eddie couldn’t handle any more responsibility. Or any more loss. He already ached at the idea of trying to explain to Christopher that the dog had to go. 

“I work 24-hour shifts, Buck.” 

“I know.” 

“I’m a single father!” 

“I know,” Buck cringed. 

“Christopher goes to a private school that I can barely afford.” 

“I know, Eddie. But you don’t understand-” 

“Is this about the tsunami? Buck, I know you feel guilty, but you can’t give him whatever he wants.”

Buck flinched as if he’d been shot, eyes immediately filling, and even in Eddie’s aggravation, he felt absolutely terrible. The subject still couldn’t be broached without Buck dissolving into tears or shutting down completely. Eddie held up his hands in surrender, waggling them a little. One of his boys would soon be crying. He couldn’t handle another. “I’m sorry. I just–why didn’t you call me?” 

Buck sniffled, but untensed with relief at Eddie shifting away from the tsunami. “Because you would’ve said no. I know dogs are expensive, and you work long shifts. And we’ll figure that out. Eddie, this is…you have to see him with her, and you’ll understand,” Buck insisted. 

“You won’t let me.” Eddie gestured to Buck’s bulk blocking the narrow hallway.

“Oh, right! Um, I’ll heat up dinner. I got your favorite!” 

“I bet you did,” Eddie snapped. “Why do I feel like I have two kids?” he grumbled as he ventured down the hall.

He knocked on the door to Christopher’s room and found his son sitting on his bed, barely visible beyond the silver-gray bulk of a freaking _Great Dane_. 

At Eddie’s arrival, the dog’s floppy ears lifted and she sniffed the air before shuffling off the bed and bounding over to Eddie with the ungainly (and adorable) floppiness of a still-growing puppy. But just as he expected to be bowled over by 100 pounds of beast, but she stopped and opted to lick the palm of his extended hand. 

Christopher’s face glittered with joy. “She likes you, Dad!” 

Eddie absorbed his son’s joy, and couldn’t help but returning a fraction of it. “I see that, bud. What’s her name?” He gently stroked her ears and scratched beneath her chin. Her eyes were a pristine frosted blue. He couldn’t deny that she was a gorgeous animal.

“Shuri!” Christopher exclaimed. “Buck said she could stay here!”

Eddie clicked his tongue. “After Princess Shuri, I should have guessed,” he said. Christopher’s room had become a shrine to all things _Black Panther_ in the last two years. “Buck and I are going to talk about this, okay?” 

Shuri trotted back over to Christopher’s bed and began playing with the collection of new toys on the floor–all of which squeaked. _Oh, how I hate you, Buck_.

Eddie gritted his teeth. “I’ll call you for dinner soon, dude.” 

“We’ll be playing!” Christopher sing-songed as Shuri set to hyperly biting a rubber pig that squawked like the real thing.

Eddie closed the door, tension pounding behind his eyes. “Buck, I’m going to kill you!” 

Buck had set the table and was plating up Eddie’s favorite: Barbacoa burrito, loaded Mexican fries with spicy salsa. Buck handed him a chilled beer, and a hopeful expression. “Did you see?” His countenance was nearly as dazzling as Christopher’s.

“The fact that there’s a damn wolf in my house, yes, Buck, I saw.” Eddie gulped the beer, “I saw a thrilled kid with a sweet dog. And I don’t know how I’m going to tell him that we can’t keep her. You know what, I’m not going to tell him. _You are_.” 

“You obviously didn’t see,” Buck stated with simple, emphatic defiance. “Christopher, dinner!” 

Buck sat Christopher’s plate on the table and began to tidy up the kitchen. He picked up Christopher’s crutches and set them against the wall closest to the living room and threw away the takeout wrappers. Still standing, Eddie hoped that stress-eating would power him through a night of Christopher crying and the next week of sulking and the silent treatment, so he tucked into his fries with an angry gusto.

He heard shuffling down the hall and the rhythmic clink of Shuri’s collar. He craned his head to witness Christopher walking down the hall, arm draped over Shuri’s flank. He tugged on her purple collar with her free hand, guiding her into the kitchen. 

His jaw dropped as Christopher, with a confident gait, breezed by his crutches and to the table. 

He gaped at Buck, heart swelling, who grinned with an odd combination of smugness, pride, and love.

Gobsmacked, Eddie swiped at his eyes and leaned into something that felt like a miracle.

Christopher’s use of crutches was a reality of his condition, and while it was sometimes painful to see other children running and jumping and playing sports without physical hindrances, Eddie was always far more proud of Christopher’s personal victories, his innate optimism, and how he handled life’s innumerable obstacles. But there would only be more challenges as Christopher got older, and Eddie often lay awake at night worried about how he’d tackle them, how he’d preserve Christopher’s desire for independence, and if the world would be kind. 

Shuri’s gentle temperament seemed to click with Christopher’s particular needs in a way he’d only seen in the movies, and her size made her the perfect buttress for a growing Christopher. He more than understood why Buck couldn’t leave her behind. He was _grateful_. 

Buck leaned against the kitchen island, back turned to Christopher. “We went to the park, and they had a dog adoption event. I made Christopher promise that he understood that we could just play with the dogs and that he couldn’t take one home. He and Shuri were halfway to the playground before I realized I was holding his crutches,” Buck whispered. “I adopted her in my name, and I can pay for her food and help with any vet bills. I figured we could get her trained as a service dog so she can go to school with Chris once she passes the test. I already called Carla and Ms. Isabel to make sure they weren’t allergic. And she can come to the station with you if she has to. I mean what firehouse doesn’t have a dog?” Buck explained, impossibly hopeful. “I know I didn’t talk this over with you, but…”

“You couldn’t say no.” Eddie repeated, still in awe. “Shit, neither can I. We’ll figure it out,” Eddie said. 

“Do you still want to kill me?” Buck asked. 

Eddie shook his head, smiling as Shuri whined for food at Christopher’s side. “Do not give her beans, Chris!” Eddie ordered. He turned his attention to Buck, “Nah, I had something else in mind.” He had mulled over the idea for months and even discussed it with his mother and Tia Peppa, but he wasn’t sure how to present it after the explosion or the tsunami without it coming off as pity or charity. But he was more emotionally clearheaded than he’d been in weeks, and Eddie decided to risk it.

Buck tensed beside him. “I can still watch him, right?” 

“As his godfather, I’d hope that you would,” Eddie tossed out casually. 

Gasping, Buck dropped his beer, and the can hit the floor noisily unchecked. Eddie cast a sidelong glance at his best friend and reveled in a rare moment of speechlessness. “You love him, Buck, from the moment you met him, and he idolizes you. The fact that you did this for him just proves it. You’re apart of our family, Buck. It’s time we made it official. That’s all.” 

Buck was overcome with emotion and not even trying to hide it. “Eddie…I don’t know what to say,” he said, voice breaking. 

“It better be ‘yes.’” 

“Yes, of course!” 

Buck was bumped by an inquisitive Shuri, who started lapping up the beer at their feet. Eddie exploded in unforgivable laughter. Eddie tried to drag eighty pounds of stubborn beast away from the alcohol while Buck panicked about drunk puppies, and scrambled across the floor trying to mop up the mess. Christopher squealed with delight until he actually fell off his chair. Shuri barked and howled from all the excitement.

Eddie took in the sheer mayhem of his messy, ridiculous family, and his chest flooded with warmth. He wouldn’t have it any other way.

_Fin_

**Author's Note:**

> I always wanted to write a story where Buck became Christopher's godfather. This just seemed to be the perfect fit. Let me know what you think!


End file.
